Updating family computer. How does this look?

My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard drives, cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd, and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).
--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

Your choice of a case would be my favorite. I have a similar Cooler
Master case. You might want to consider a fan controller depending on
how sensitive you are to the noise. I run the front and rear fans at
about 25% power except while gamming. I leave the top fan off (it is
the noisiest) except when under a full load. I use a Matrix Orbital
LCD display/fan controller, but there are many other options for fan
control.


Anime-niac wrote in message . ..
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard drives, cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd, and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).

"Anime-niac" wrote in message
...
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard drives,
cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the
computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd,
and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current
gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).
--
Anime-niac

Looks awesome. In fact, it's overkill for what you want to use it for.
Nothing wrong with that. I'd suggest throwing a *cheap* CDR/W drive
into the mix to replace the CD-Rom drive. That way, you'll put less wear
and tear on the DVD burner for burning audio CDs. Oh, go for the NEC LCD
monitor, such as LCD1760V if they still sell that. The display quality is
better than the Samsung LCDs, though the Samsungs are not bad. Also, watch
the response time of the LCD monitor. If you go with the LCD1760V, you'll
be fine. Anything else you might not like much for gaming. -Dave

Anime-niac wrote:
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using
the hard drives, cd-rom, & the external devices from our old
computer. The main use of the computer is for internet access, word
processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd, and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the
current gaming trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge
at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Antec True Power 430W-480W PSU

Abit NF7/NF7-S MB

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 512MB

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

See changes above.

Run the 2500+ at 11x200MHz. The tasks you list do not require a gigabyte of
RAM. Antec makes the better power supply for the same money. Nice case.

on Mon January 5 2004 7:47 am, Anime-niac decided to enlighten us with:

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Don't want to cause a war here, but review after review rated Antec power
supplies better.

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Ever looked at Corsair memory?

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

I hear that 16x and dual layer drives will be available by summer...

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

If you're into gaming, get a CRT monitor. Particularly with FPS games, the
delay time in the refresh could be the difference between dying and living.

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).

While I support your support for a local company, check their prices against
the ones listed at www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com. Unless, they're
building the system for you. Then, you don't have much choice, do you?

--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
5:44pm up 29 days 2:30, 3 users, load average: 0.31, 0.65, 0.66

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 21:01:08 GMT, "S.Heenan" wrote:

Anime-niac wrote:
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using
the hard drives, cd-rom, & the external devices from our old
computer. The main use of the computer is for internet access, word
processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd, and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the
current gaming trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge
at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Antec True Power 430W-480W PSU

Abit NF7/NF7-S MB


This board doesn't have enough usb ports to support all six of our external
devices, and four of them refuse to run through a hub (which I find very odd).
That's why we choose the AN7.

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 512MB

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

See changes above.

Run the 2500+ at 11x200MHz. The tasks you list do not require a gigabyte of
RAM. Antec makes the better power supply for the same money. Nice case.


My parents don't want to overclock, so the cpu has tol be the 3200+. What's wrong
with 1GB of memory? My parents have 600+ LPs that they want converted to cd and
to date I've only managed to do five of them. The biggest problem I've run into
is lack of memory for major undo options (like when I mess up the de-hiss/click
process), and we have 512MB in our current system. As for the power supply, I'll
do some more checking, but the Antec 430W is $8 more and 30W less than the Enermax
I listed, plus the Enermax has 8 molex connectors. I haven't seen anything about
how many the Antec has.
--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 14:46:19 -0500, "Dave C."
wrote:


"Anime-niac" wrote in message
.. .
My parents finally decided to update the family computer into the GHz
range, which
means an almost entirely new computer. We will be using the hard drives,
cd-rom,
& the external devices from our old computer. The main use of the
computer is for
internet access, word processing, recording LPs and burning them to cd,
and some
occassional gameplay by me. I tend to run two years behind the current
gaming
trend, so I'm not overly concerned with cutting edge at the moment.

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company
is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).
--
Anime-niac

Looks awesome. In fact, it's overkill for what you want to use it for.
Nothing wrong with that. I'd suggest throwing a *cheap* CDR/W drive
into the mix to replace the CD-Rom drive. That way, you'll put less wear
and tear on the DVD burner for burning audio CDs. Oh, go for the NEC LCD
monitor, such as LCD1760V if they still sell that. The display quality is
better than the Samsung LCDs, though the Samsungs are not bad. Also, watch
the response time of the LCD monitor. If you go with the LCD1760V, you'll
be fine. Anything else you might not like much for gaming. -Dave


One of our external devices is a Plextor 48/24/48 CD-RW drive.

--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 17:50:10 -0500, "Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)"
wrote:

on Mon January 5 2004 7:47 am, Anime-niac decided to enlighten us with:

Here is the list of what we plan on getting right now:

Cooler Master Praetorian (PAC-T01) Aluminum Case

Enermax Whisper EG465P-VE(FC) 460W PS

Don't want to cause a war here, but review after review rated Antec power
supplies better.

Abit AN7 MB

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 400FSB

Kingston DDR 3200 Non-ECC 1GB (2 512MB sticks)

Ever looked at Corsair memory?


Haven't been able to find any reviews of Corsair vs. Kingston. I've used Kingston
before so I know the brand. Plus there's a big price difference, and we have a
limited budget.

Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS Platinum

ASUS Radeon 9600XT

Item we plan on getting later:

DVD+/-RW (probably the Pioneer A-06)

I hear that 16x and dual layer drives will be available by summer...


That's probably when we'll be getting one as it stands now.

LCD Monitor (Either a Samsung or NEC model)

If you're into gaming, get a CRT monitor. Particularly with FPS games, the
delay time in the refresh could be the difference between dying and living.


From everything I've read about the graphics card we're getting, it supports dual
monitors, so our 15" CRT can stay hooked up (for my games) and we can add an LCD
(at a later date) for general use.

We're buying everything from a local dealer, so there's a limit to what we
can get
without having to order and then wait for it. For those interested, the
company is Monarch Computer Systems (http://www.monarchcomputer.com/).

While I support your support for a local company, check their prices against
the ones listed at www.newegg.com and www.zipzoomfly.com. Unless, they're
building the system for you. Then, you don't have much choice, do you?

It's more a case of being able to pick up the items directly from the company
versus having them shipped. For the items I checked, the prices were fairly close
to Monarch's. Plus if there is a problem with something, we don't have to ship it
back to the company, we can return it directly to the store.
--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 21:16:08 -0800, Anime-niac wrote:

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 21:01:08 GMT, "S.Heenan" wrote:

snip
Abit NF7/NF7-S MB


This board doesn't have enough usb ports to support all six of our external
devices, and four of them refuse to run through a hub (which I find very odd).
That's why we choose the AN7.


I take that back. I downloaded a copy of the manual and the NF7-S does have six
usb ports, four of them are by internal headers. Any particular reason you
suggest the NF7-S over the AN7?

snip

Run the 2500+ at 11x200MHz. The tasks you list do not require a gigabyte of
RAM. Antec makes the better power supply for the same money. Nice case.


My parents don't want to overclock, so the cpu has tol be the 3200+. What's wrong
with 1GB of memory? My parents have 600+ LPs that they want converted to cd and
to date I've only managed to do five of them. The biggest problem I've run into
is lack of memory for major undo options (like when I mess up the de-hiss/click
process), and we have 512MB in our current system. As for the power supply, I'll
do some more checking, but the Antec 430W is $8 more and 30W less than the Enermax
I listed, plus the Enermax has 8 molex connectors. I haven't seen anything about
how many the Antec has.

I managed to find some pics that showed the Antec True430 and its connectors along
with several reviews (what a difference using the right search terms can make).
I'll have to discuss this with my parents, but we may go with Antec instead of
Enermax.
--
Anime-niac

"You've heard of the Pon-tiac? Well I'm the Anime-niac!"

To contact me either:
1) post a message with "Attn: Anime-niac"
2) or e-mail me at ronnie at ronnie dot freewebspace dot com (you know the drill)

Anime-niac wrote:
On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 21:16:08 -0800, Anime-niac
wrote:

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 21:01:08 GMT, "S.Heenan" wrote:

snip
Abit NF7/NF7-S MB


This board doesn't have enough usb ports to support all six of our
external devices, and four of them refuse to run through a hub
(which I find very odd). That's why we choose the AN7.


I take that back. I downloaded a copy of the manual and the NF7-S
does have six usb ports, four of them are by internal headers. Any
particular reason you suggest the NF7-S over the AN7?

I'm more familiar with the NF7-S Rev2 which I now consider a mature board,
free of bugs. Since you plan on an Audigy2 sound card, the NF7 may fit the
bill. The Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev2 is another great board.

Read the thread titled, "AN7 is good or bad /nf7-s ?" January, 4th, 2004 in
alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit

"BigBadger" is due to receive the AN7 and will very likely provide feedback
on his findings later this week.


Run the 2500+ at 11x200MHz. The tasks you list do not require a
gigabyte of RAM. Antec makes the better power supply for the same
money. Nice case.


My parents don't want to overclock, so the cpu has tol be the 3200+.
What's wrong with 1GB of memory? My parents have 600+ LPs that they
want converted to cd and to date I've only managed to do five of
them. The biggest problem I've run into is lack of memory for major
undo options (like when I mess up the de-hiss/click process), and we
have 512MB in our current system. As for the power supply, I'll do
some more checking, but the Antec 430W is $8 more and 30W less than
the Enermax I listed, plus the Enermax has 8 molex connectors. I
haven't seen anything about how many the Antec has.

I managed to find some pics that showed the Antec True430 and its
connectors along with several reviews (what a difference using the
right search terms can make). I'll have to discuss this with my
parents, but we may go with Antec instead of Enermax.

The Antec True Power series is simply a better power supply. Enermax has
weaker 12V rails which can be a problem when a great number of drives are
used.